Denmark and World War II: Truth and Apologies
that the German's could use also saw their bottom line rise dramatically and remain so until today. All assisted the Nazi movement by allowing the Germans to use Danish resources and supplies rather than having to import them from Germany where the workforce was severely depleted by the German war machine.
CORRECTIONS AND APOLOGIES
Denmark today is coming to terms with the lesser-known and shadowy parts of its history in various areas, from its inhumane African slavery heritage to its participation in Nazi Germany's genocide. The call to set the record completely straight is coming from Danes who are students, teachers and politicians, including the Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The history textbooks being used in Denmark in the 21st century are more than 20 years old and have no mention of what historians and others have revealed about the Nazi occupation of Denmark. Instead, children are still reading books which allege a black and white situation of godly Danish resistance fighters and evil Nazi invaders with nothing in between - where the truth is located.
A national interest organization of elementary school students is reporting that students are very unhappy with what they are being taught because the material is factually incorrect. The Danish Teacher Association is in agreement.
But will anything be done about the incorrect education Danes are receiving about its history in World War II? Not if the Danish Parliament's Education Minister Bertel Haarder has anything to say about it. He said that the obsolete textbooks are not the problem. Sidestepping the issue, Haarder said "Children do not only learn from books, and teachers should introduce them to different views on the history of the occupation".
A different position is being taken by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. On Wednesday May 4, 2005, before a gathering of nearly 5,000 people celebrating Denmark's Liberation Day, he apologized publicly for Denmark's role in sending some Jews to their certain death in German concentration camps.
"Today, we know that Danish authorities in some cases took part in sending back people to suffering and death in concentrations camps. On behalf of the government and the Danish state, I would like to take this opportunity to regret and apologize for these acts," Fogh Rasmussen said.
Accompanied by Denmark's Queen Margrethe and both Danish and British war veterans also he took part in a flower-laying ceremony at Mindelunden Park. It is a memorial site north of Copenhagen, where the bodies of
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